Android Development Newsletter

February 9, 2016

Android Development Newsletter

February 9, 2016

Google confirmed an Android M bug that requires Apps using the File Expansion/OBB system to request run-time permission for external storage. Requiring run-time permission for OBB to function is a known bug. Google patched this, however the OEM roll-out of this fix will be inconsistent. Google’s recommendation is for apps that use or plan on using OBB to continue targeting SDK 22 until SDK 24 is released (October timeframe). Google’s editorial review team are aware of this bug and will not enforce the requirement to target the latest SDK version of OBB titles. (Titles not using OBB are required to target 23 to be considered for Google Play Placement)

Action: Titles with an OBB file should continue to target SDK=22

Device Compatibility Concerns

A number of teams have reported sporadic issues with devices known to be compatible being reported by players as being listed as incompatible on Google Play. This issue has been escalated to Google. If you are currently tracking such an issue please send details to jakavanagh@ea.com

Targeting Amazon Devices with Your Android Manifest

The Amazon Appstore uses Android manifest specifications (i.e. the contents of your AndroidManifest.xml file) to determine which Fire devices are compatible with your APK. Incompatibilities between your manifest and a device’s capabilities will prevent the APK file from being targeted to that device.

New: Amazon is now filtering Kindle devices by Android Manifest common hardware features.

GamesLite

Google is taking steps to reduce sign-in friction and unnecessary permission requests for players by moving the Games APIs to a new model.

The new interaction is:

Players are prompted to sign-in once per account, rather than once per game

Players no longer need their account upgraded to Google+ to use Play Games Services

Once players have signed-in for the first time, they will no longer need to sign in to any future games; they will be automatically signed in (Note: Players can turn off auto-sign-in through the Play Games App’s settings)

Advantages:

Once a user signs in for first time, new games will generally be able to sign in without any user interaction

There is no consent screen required for signing in on any particular game. Sign-in will be automatic to each new game.

In order to respect user’s privacy and avoid revealing their real name, Google is changing the way player IDs work.

For existing players: Games will continue to get their Google+ ID (also called “player ID” in previous documentation) when they sign in.

For new players: Games will get a new player ID which is not the same as the previous IDs we’ve used